The Importance of Being Idle

Random Trials, Some Waffle

Apparently there's some unwritten law somewhere which says that nothing in my life is going to be simple.
Yeah, I'm still sick, in case you're wondering, and this is pretty much the nub of the whole problem. See, while I'm sick, even though I'm not working I should be receiving a thing called Statutory Sick Pay, which the government pays to you when you can't work. It's not a huge amount, about £70 a week, but it's something and it would help to keep you afloat. My wages were paid into the bank this morning however, and I received the grand sum of £15.80. Clearly something here is wrong, but it's a Saturday and everywhere is closed so we can't find out what and if it's possible to fix it. It wasn't just my place of employment that was closed though, so was the Benefits Agency and Citizens Advice Bureau, presumably because citizens don't need advice at weekends. The bank have been exactly as unhelpful as you'd expect in a "the computer says no" kinda way, and I pretty much reached my wits end on the way home. Ronnie just seemed to take it all in her stride in a way which struck me as truly amazing. So for all that I might complain about some things I'm a very lucky man when it comes to what's really important, very lucky indeed.
I also missed International Talk Like a Pirate day, which was on the 19th! I've been looking forward to that all year (for some inexplicable reason), and totally missed it. That said I only could've talked like a pirate to Archie, and I'm not sure he would've been overly impressed.
Other than that, things have carried on much as before: I'm still sick, thought not as sick, so I have at least been able to watch a few movies this week. I enjoyed Spike Lee's Inside Man a great deal, and I thought Gore Verbinski's Weather Man with Nic Cage was amazing (although it was also kinda depressing, in an uplifting sorta way), and I enjoyed Poseidon far more than any sane person should. I've also been keeping my eye on things games wise, and looking at a lot of what's coming out of the TGS. If those PS3 games are even half as pretty as they look, then they'll still be the prettiest thing ever (although did you notice how decidely 'current gen' the animations in MGS4 are? Very odd), but whether that can justify the enormous cost of the console is still open for debate (a very short debate, with a final resolution of "no" - no matter how much I want to play Ninja Gaiden Sigma or Devil May Cry 4). Over in 360 world, Capcoms Lost Planet looks utterly awesome, and Rare have once again made me thankful they didn't give me a job all those years ago with Viva Pinata, a game which is sure to recoup Microsofts massive outlay for them (please note sarcasm here. I can't imagine at what meeting Viva Pinata seemed like a good idea, or how it continued to seem like a good idea once everyone was sober again). Still, all that money went to Nintendo, so it went to a good cause, right?

posted by BadMonkey @ 9:36 PM